The problem is that it's often seen as 'non-essential'. If you skip marketing activities for a week or two the business won't grind to a halt. That's true, but if you don't do consistent marketing you'll quickly find that business drops off and it becomes a struggle making ends meet and paying all the bills. It's known as 'restuffing the sausage machine'!
This is particularly important if you're a small business as there may not be people to delegate marketing to so you really need a robust plan to ensure that, even when you're busy, marketing doesn't stop altogether.
Step one is to decide who your ideal client is. If you have a very clear idea of this you'll find everything else gets easier.
For example: not 'professionals', not' lawyers', not 'family lawyers', but something really specific like 'family law firms with fewer than 4 partners based within 30 miles of Exeter'.
Obviously, you will need to tailor this to your business and target clients; the more specific you can be the easier it is to find the type of clients you want.
Step two is to identify where these ideal clients are found online - are they active in LinkedIn, do they tweet, do they chat on Facebook, are they posting content into Google+ or images on Pinterest? Doing your research up front will ensure your messages are posted in the right places.
Step three is to have a plan of action - what content are you going to post to which platforms?E.g.
- Post to your blog twice a month (one sharing knowledge, one case study)
- Create a set of daily tips for posting in relevant social media - enough for a month (these can be reposted monthly
- A monthly newsletter to your list
Your plan may include articles, email marketing, webinars, YouTube videos and more, but always think about what you will do if time runs out.
Step four is to have tools that will help you with all this. Things like:
- Hootsuite (www.hootsuite.com) to manage and schedule your posts will save you hours and maintain visibility
- sxc.hu for stock images that are free to use (never use Google images if you want to avoid big fees and fines for using copyrighted images unknowingly)
- Camtasia (or the free version Jing) to allow you make short videos for YouTube and then add to other social media and your website
- AnyMeeting, GoToMeeting or Webex for webinars or tutorial sessions
Step five is to have a plan showing who does what and when.
As a minimum you need to invest 5 minutes a week in posting your value-led social media, it's the easiest and quickest way of staying visible. It's not a substitute for real-time engagement, but at least ensures you're still visible even if you're run off your feet and don't have time for anything else.
If things are really busy and look like being that way for a while then get help. It's worth paying a professional to write your content for blogs, articles, email marketing and even some of your social media if you can earn more in the time it would take to do it yourself.
It takes about three months before you'll start to see real results - and the same applies if you stop marketing; it can be three months before you suddenly realise that business isn't going so well. Don't get to that stage or you'll have another tough few months whilst you get everything up and running again.
